Along an assembly line, various types of articles, such as for example, diapers and other absorbent articles, may be assembled by adding components to and/or otherwise modifying an advancing, continuous web of material. For example, in some processes, advancing webs of material are combined with other advancing webs of material. In other examples, individual components created from advancing webs of material are combined with advancing webs of material, which in turn, are then combined with other advancing webs of material. In some cases, individual components created from advancing web or webs are combined with other individual components created from other advancing web or webs. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, leg cuffs, waist bands, absorbent core components, front and/or back ears, and fastening components. Once the desired component parts are assembled, the advancing web(s) and component parts are subjected to a final knife cut to separate the web(s) into discrete diapers or other absorbent articles.
Some diaper components, such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, stretch side panels, and waist elastics, are constructed from elastic laminates. Such elastic laminates may be assembled in various ways depending on the particular diaper design. For example, some elastic laminates may be constructed from one or more nonwoven substrates bonded to an elastic film. In some configurations, the elastic film may be stretched and then bonded with the nonwoven substrates to form an elastic laminate.
Some existing elastic laminate assembly operations may have certain drawbacks. For example, manufacturing operations may be configured with machines adapted to grip and stretch the films before bonding. However, while gripping the films during the stretching operation, the machines may tear or pierce the films. In addition, with some gripping operations, relatively large portions of the film may remain unstretched in the assembled elastic laminate. As such, the unstretched and/or damaged portions of the film may add no benefit with respect to the desired elasticity of the assembled elastic laminate, and thus, may represent wasted material and expense. In some assembly operations, the elastic laminate may be slit through both the film and nonwovens along the machine direction into two lanes, wherein each lane of elastic laminate may then be combined with additional components and/or substrates, and subsequently converted into discrete diaper components. However, the slit edge of the elastic laminate having exposed elastic film may detract from the aesthetics of the final component assembly incorporating the slit laminate.
Consequently, it would be beneficial to provide methods and apparatuses for assembling elastic laminates that are configured to minimize damaged and/or unstretched portions of films incorporated therein, and may also be configured to eliminate the need to slit the laminate through the film to help maximize the aesthetic appearance of the laminate when placed in an assembled product.